Human beings are forgetting machines (Quiroga, 2017). In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted a study to understand how humans forget. He attempted to memorize thousands of meaningless words and recorded his forgetting curve over time. From this, he discovered the 'Forgetting Curve' (Ebbinghaus, 1885). He observed that we forget most of what we learn within the first 24 hours if we do not actively practice recalling the information
Quiroga (2017) argues that forgetting is actually a healthy process because we often only remember information that is relevant for our own survival. Quiroga explains that the memory strategy could be an effective survival tactic as it minimizes the information we need to process when making decisions. Additionally, forgetting is helps humans filter relevant information in order to make meaning. This will be further explain in Bartlett's (1932) study on schemas.
The limitation of Ebbinghaus's (1885) research was that he used meaningless words to test forgetting, so the study did not reflect the impact of the meaning-making process on memory. Bartlett (1932) brought insight into the process of meaning-making. His study demonstrated that humans often only remember information that fits their existing beliefs or knowledge, known as "schemas." We often adjust and reconstruct stories based on these schemas. He conducted the study by having students read a folk tale and then asking them to retell it. Each student typically shortened and simplified the story, even changing it based on their personal interpretation. When he asked students to retell the story after a week, several months, or even a year, each time they often recounted it slightly differently.
Bartlett's research revealed that we often don't recall every detail of events. We tend to construct our own interpretations of reality, adjusting or enhancing our memories based on our unique perspectives and life experiences - our cognitive schemas. This also underscores the value of teamwork, as it enables us to share and enrich each other's understanding since each person brings a different viewpoint to the table.
A note - the external memory of our mind
The insight from Ebbinghaus's (1885) study on human forgetting, along with Bartlett's (1932) research, underscores the significance of information technology in shaping human cognition. Given the limitations of human memory in retaining detailed information, systems like paper and computers serve as external memory systems. Researchers call it the external-storage hypothesis, as the act of of talking note helps offload the task of remembering by creating a stable record of information (Slavina, 2018).
The value of the external memory of note happed student can learn from review what they have written down. The cognitive value in learning can be explained by the fact that students can review what they have written down. An interesting study by Bui (2013) illustrates the strength of this information storage role. Bui (2013) compared the effectiveness of note-taking on computers and on paper. When taking notes on a computer, students often type faster, so their notes tend to closely resemble the teacher's words. Typing on a computer leads to higher efficiency in storing information but lower efficiency in encoding information compared to handwritten notes. At the same time, handwriting is slower, and learners have a tendency to self-explain more, limiting the storage effect (less content rewritten) compared to typed notes, but with better encoding (more self-generated note). The interesting result here is that after 24 hours, Bui (2013) conducted a test and found quite intriguing results. Without opening their books, those who took notes on paper scored higher, potentially influenced by the encoding effect of note-taking. However, if allowed to review their notes, those who took notes on a computer performed better on the test because they had more content to review. This highlights the advantage of the information storage role of note-taking when the learner has more content to use later.
Students can use notes to review for upcoming classes. Over the long term, notes can help students accumulate knowledge into notebooks or create their digital knowledge library on a computer. This personal repository of knowledge can facilitate externalization, storage, and organization of all the knowledge that students learn and the content they consume, creating a centralized place to find, search, reuse, and develop knowledge over time.
Moreover, philosophers argue that our information tools are integral expansions of our cognitive processes. For instance, Douglas Harding contends that there exists no clear boundary between the physical body and the external world (Harding, 2022). Furthermore, Andy Clark & David Chalmers (1998) proposed the "Extended Mind" theory, positing that tools serve as extensions of our minds (Clark, 1998). This underscores how the utilization of information technology can enhance our cognitive capabilities.
Here's an example from my note system. When analyzing my computer note-taking system, I found that all the documents and notes I gathered during my three years of university education amount to only about 10 GB. This includes over 6000 pages of various notes, hundreds of drawings, all lecture slides and all documents/research papers I've read. Remembering all this material would likely take a lifetime. However, for a computer to store it, I would only need to purchase a 32GB USB drive for less than 100,000 VND. Transferring the data onto the USB takes just 5 minutes and 16 seconds. This note-taking system also allows me to access all the information I've written, including PDFs, highlights, and class notes, helping me connect ideas and conceptualize concepts. It serves as the foundation for my knowledge production.
From Bartlett's (1932) study of schemas, my own interpretation of human intellect is that the uniqueness of the human mind lies in the process of abstract thinking and meaning creation. Through the meaning-making process, we create knowledge - our own interpretations and explanations of the world around us.
According to David Deutsch in his book "The Beginning of Infinity," a physicist at the University of Oxford, the formation of knowledge is a special phenomenon in the universe. Supernova explosions are always fascinating physical phenomena. But if you were to witness a solar system suddenly arranging itself into a perfectly symmetrical shape or an asteroid unexpectedly altering its orbit to avoid colliding with a planet, that would be evidence of knowledge creation (Deutsch, 2011). The meaning-making process helps humans expand their worldview. The brain of Homo sapiens, without further evolution, is capable of understanding the expansion of the universe, our DNA comprehending the quantum world, creating music, and developing artificial intelligence.